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Sports Mindlessness

It’s mind boggling how many devoted sports fans like me there are given the sports landscape—too many players breaking too many laws; the inability of players and owners to divide the billions of dollars in television and other revenue; exceedingly wealthy owners expecting the general public to subsidize their billion dollar sports cathedrals; the performance enhancing drugs; not to mention the tendency of too many athletes and their fans towards violence, homophobia, and misogyny.

Of course, interspersed within all those negatives are sublime moments of pure competition, athletic excellence, Nike commercials, and joy.

Maybe professional sports are like television, just a reflection of ourselves, and in some cases, our less impressive selves.

As a sports-minded person, I wonder, what form might socially redeeming sports-mindedness take? Someone who values non-violence, level playing fields, the character building effect of sports, and the amateur ideal. Maybe I should limit myself to amateur sports, college sports, or minor sports, or high school sports, or minor high school sports?

That’s it! Maybe I should return to my high school athletic roots and start a cable television channel and website devoted to high school golf and water polo (AGWP-Amateur Golf and Water Polo).

Until some VCs see the brilliance of that idea, maybe I should just substitute personal athletic activity for the time I spend reading about, watching, and listening to sports.

Right. Another antecedent is the preferential treatment great athletes receive starting in high school. Not just h.s. football in Texas. :) Lowered academic expectations, assemblies and other accolades, too often lead to a “rules don’t apply to me” mindset. Thus, the now almost comical litany of busted pro athletes complaining, “Do you know who I am?”

I assume there’s a lot of variability among fans. Your approach does simplify things, but I pull for certain athletes; consequently I prefer that they be decent human beings (versus morally beyond reproach). Of course we never really know them, but I wonder, if it’s only about athletic prowess, why do teams worry so much about character, why ever interview them, why report on any of their illegal activities, and why exclude Pete Rose or Barry Bonds from the HoF? I’m probably in the minority since I believe ultimately, one’s character trumps one’s lifetime stats between the lines.